The Michael Schumacher camp has played down rumours that the seven times world champion will make a sensational Formula 1 return with Mercedes next year.
Mercedes has bought this year's champion team Brawn to form a new factory operation, but faces starting its project with a relatively low key driver line-up as title winner Jenson Button has opted for McLaren for 2010.
Nico Rosberg is believed to have already signed with Mercedes, with compatriot Nick Heidfeld now tipped to take the second drive - but there has been speculation that the team could entice Schumacher out of retirement instead.
Schumacher was a Mercedes protege in his youth, and it was originally assumed that the company would bring him into its F1 programme when it joined the championship with first Sauber, then McLaren in the mid-1990s.
But Schumacher achieved his success with Benetton and Ferrari instead, and never drove a Mercedes-powered car in F1.
However with Ross Brawn, architect of Schumacher's greatest triumphs at both Benetton and Ferrari, now at the helm of the Mercedes works operation, the rumour mill has gone into overdrive in recent days.
Schumacher's long-time spokesperson Sabine Kehm denied that negotiations with Mercedes had begun, though.
“The whole story with Mercedes is a beautiful one with so many things fitting together with Michael and Ross, but it is a full season next year and there are no negotiations going on,” Kehm told the Times newspaper.
After retiring from F1 at the end of 2006, Schumacher remained with Ferrari as a consultant and occasional test driver.
He put himself forward for a shock comeback this summer when Felipe Massa was injured, only to have to cancel that plan when it became clear that a neck injury suffered in motorcycle crash had not healed sufficiently.
The 40-year-old German won 91 grands prix, seven titles and took 68 pole positions in his record-shattering F1 career.